Hyundai's marketers thought they had a potentially huge hit on
their hands: Maybe it would even win some awards for its
originality. Car advertising is usually riddled with visual
clichés, such as the open road, night-time city driving, and
over-the-top stunts like driving through walls of flames or
crystal chandeliers.

They dreamed of marketing awards, but they could not have been
more wrong.

How wrong? Watch the ad. When done, pick up your jaw and then
scroll down to find out what happened next:

The spot is unusual and dramatic: It shows a depressed man
locking himself in his car, attempting to suffocate himself with
exhaust fumes. But the Hyundai ix35 is a fuel cell car, and its
tailpipe emits only water vapor. "How clever!" the marketers must
have thought. Then, as the music swells dramatically, and the man
leans back to accept his fate ... nothing happens. He's forced to
get out and open the garage door to let the steam out.

Holly Brockwell's father's suicide
note.Holly
Brockwell

But then, also on April 25, came a blog
post by an advertising copywriter in London whose father
committed suicide in just such a fashion as was depicted by
Hyundai. She published his suicide note. Suddenly, the ad wasn't
a bold, creative move against car advertising clichés. Instead,
it was a tasteless joke about depression and death.

Her post, and a copy of the ad on YouTube,
immediately went viral. It's the most talked-about ad of the week
all right — but for all the wrong reasons.

Hyundai immediately tweeted an apology and promised to withdraw
the ad. But it was too late. By that time, the ad had become its
own case study on how to create a PR crisis.
Hyundai tried to get the ad removed from YouTube, but copies
of it were being published faster than the company's lawyers
could challenge them.